Christian Downie – författare

Large-scale assessments, such as those by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), have been crucial in advancing our understanding of climate change. They have affirmed that reducing greenhouse-gas emissions is urgently needed to avoid its disastrous consequences and that we possess the scientific knowledge and technical ability to meet that challenge. Citizens around the world are concerned about climate change and are willing to do something about it. What stands in the way of action? Climate Obstruction systematically addresses the complex, organized, and well-funded set of actors who have actively resisted and undermined policy efforts to address climate change. This volume assembles nearly one hundred top experts from around the world to make the case that as climate action becomes globalized, efforts to obstruct it have become more deceptive, widespread, better funded, and dangerous. Contributors review and analyze the obstruction efforts undertaken by fossil-fuel industries, utilities, the transportation sector, agribusinesses, public-relations firms, and organizations on the political far right. They also examine the role and effects of the media in disseminating climate disinformation and misinformation, and how these narratives potentially affect public opinion on climate action. They assess how obstruction of climate action occurs across the Global South, at the subnational level, at the United Nations and in the IPCC, and in the context of climate adaptation, concluding with a discussion of legal, state, and non-state efforts to address climate obstruction.Providing a first-of-its-kind assessment of global climate obstruction, this volume advances our understanding of efforts to slow or block policies on climate change, which can guide more effective action to prevent obstruction in the future. This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. It is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

Large-scale assessments, such as those by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), have been crucial in advancing our understanding of climate change. They have affirmed that reducing greenhouse-gas emissions is urgently needed to avoid its disastrous consequences and that we possess the scientific knowledge and technical ability to meet that challenge. Citizens around the world are concerned about climate change and are willing to do something about it. What stands in the way of action? Climate Obstruction systematically addresses the complex, organized, and well-funded set of actors who have actively resisted and undermined policy efforts to address climate change. This volume assembles nearly one hundred top experts from around the world to make the case that as climate action becomes globalized, efforts to obstruct it have become more deceptive, widespread, better funded, and dangerous. Contributors review and analyze the obstruction efforts undertaken by fossil-fuel industries, utilities, the transportation sector, agribusinesses, public-relations firms, and organizations on the political far right. They also examine the role and effects of the media in disseminating climate disinformation and misinformation, and how these narratives potentially affect public opinion on climate action. They assess how obstruction of climate action occurs across the Global South, at the subnational level, at the United Nations and in the IPCC, and in the context of climate adaptation, concluding with a discussion of legal, state, and non-state efforts to address climate obstruction.Providing a first-of-its-kind assessment of global climate obstruction, this volume advances our understanding of efforts to slow or block policies on climate change, which can guide more effective action to prevent obstruction in the future. This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. It is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

This book is ground breaking in its study of business actors in climate and energy politics. While various studies have demonstrated the influence of business actors across multiple policy domains, this is the first to examine the behaviour of business actors in energy centric industries in the US that will be vital for achieving a clean energy transition, namely the oil, gas, coal, utility, and renewable industries. Drawing on almost 80 interviews with senior energy executives, lobbyists, and policymakers, it asks two central questions: (i) how and why are business actors shaping energy policy contests in the US? And (ii) what are the implications for policymakers? In answering these questions, this book provides new insights about the preferences and strategies of business in the energy sector, and, significantly, it identifies strategies for policymakers seeking to regulate energy in the face of political resistance from incumbent fossil fuel industries. This book will be of particular value to students, scholars, and policymakers working in the fields of energy, climate, and environmental politics, as well as individuals generally interested in the role that business exerts over policy processes.

This book is ground breaking in its study of business actors in climate and energy politics. While various studies have demonstrated the influence of business actors across multiple policy domains, this is the first to examine the behaviour of business actors in energy centric industries in the US that will be vital for achieving a clean energy transition, namely the oil, gas, coal, utility, and renewable industries. Drawing on almost 80 interviews with senior energy executives, lobbyists, and policymakers, it asks two central questions: (i) how and why are business actors shaping energy policy contests in the US? And (ii) what are the implications for policymakers? In answering these questions, this book provides new insights about the preferences and strategies of business in the energy sector, and, significantly, it identifies strategies for policymakers seeking to regulate energy in the face of political resistance from incumbent fossil fuel industries. This book will be of particular value to students, scholars, and policymakers working in the fields of energy, climate, and environmental politics, as well as individuals generally interested in the role that business exerts over policy processes.